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Iran not yet satisfied with agenda of next nuclear talks

Iran wants a clear agenda to be drawn up ahead of the next round of nuclear talks, scheduled for mid-November, the country's chief nuclear negotiator said Wednesday, DPA reported.

Saeid Jalili told the Press television news network that in a letter to the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, he wrote that the atmosphere, basis and topics of the talks should first be clarified.

Jalili said that officially, no date has been set for the talks, but Ashton's office had proposed mid-November in Vienna.

Jalili's deputy, Abolfazl Zohrevand, said Ashton did not clarify in her own letter what the framework of the talks would be.

"A letter on the resumption of the talks has been received from Ashton, but the letter only addresses issues such as where, when and how long the talks should be and does not deal with more important issues, such as the framework, aim and direction of the talks," Zohrevand said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials have welcomed the resumption of the nuclear talks with world powers but reiterated that Iran would never make any compromises on its nuclear programmes.

Iran's critics have accused it of using its civilian nuclear programme to mask a military one, which Tehran has denied. It has insisted it has a right to pursue nuclear technology and has rejected demands that it freeze its uranium enrichment.

Differences have emerged over the agenda of the talks between Iran and its negotiating partners - the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.

Iran wants to hold wide-ranging political talks with those six countries that would include nuclear issues as well as discussions on forming a new world order, reforming the UN Security Council and revising Western policies on the Middle East while the six countries would rather focus the talks on the nuclear dispute.

Iran also said it wants to separate out technical nuclear talks, which, it said, should be held with the world nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, while the six world powers want to take up the technical issues after a political settlement.